Blood Blockade Battlefront (Japanese:血界戦線,Hepburn:Kekkai Sensen;lit.'Bloodline Battlefront') is a Japanesemanga series written and illustrated byYasuhiro Nightow. It revolves around a young photographer namedLeonardo Watch, who obtains 'the All Seeing Eyes of the Gods' at the cost of his sister's eyesight. After the incident, Leonardo moves to the city of Hellsalem's Lot to join an organization known as Libra to fight several monsters as well as terrorists.
Nightow first published a one-shot chapter inShueisha'sshōnen manga magazineJump Square in May 2008. A three-chapter series, with the subtitleMafūgai Kessha, was published in the same magazine from January to March 2009.Blood Blockade Battlefront was later serialized inJump SQ.19 from May 2010 to February 2015, when the magazine ceased publication; Shueisha collected its chapters in tentankōbon volumes. A direct sequel, titledBlood Blockade Battlefront: Back 2 Back was serialized inJump SQ.Crown from July 2015 to January 2018, when the magazine ceased publication, and the series was transferred toJump SQ.Rise, where it ran from April 2018 to April 2022; its chapters were collected in tentankōbon volumes. A third series, titledBlood Blockade Battlefront: Beat 3 Peat started inJump SQ.Rise in October 2022.
A 12-episodeanime television series produced byBones was broadcast from April to October 2015. A 12-episode second season was broadcast from October to December 2017.
In North America, the first manga series has been licensed for English language release byDark Horse Comics, while the anime series has been licensed byFunimation (laterCrunchyroll). Both the manga and anime were well received by publications due to its story and characters.
Blood Blockade Battlefront centers around the crime fighting organization "Libra" and their battles in Hellsalem's Lot, formerly known asNew York City. Hellsalem's Lot was created when a portal to the "Beyond" opened, becoming a paranormal melting pot of monsters, magic and the everyday mundane life, and it is up to Libra to clear the streets of trouble and prevent the horrors of this city from spreading to the outside world.
Blood Blockade Battlefront is written and illustrated byYasuhiro Nightow. Nightow first published aone-shot chapter inShueisha'sshōnen manga magazineJump Square on May 2, 2008.[5][6] It only featured very few members of the final cast and had a much different tone, with more emphasis on it being avampire hunting story in a contemporary city. A three-chapter series, titledKekkai Sensen − Mafūgai Kessha (血界戦線 -魔封街結社-), was serialized inJump Square from January 5 to March 4, 2009.[7][8] Another one-shot chapter was published in the second volume ofJump SQ.M (Jump Square Masterpiece) on October 23, 2009.[9]Blood Blockade Battlefront was then serialized in the then brand new quarterly magazineJump SQ.19 starting on May 19, 2010.[10] The series finished with the 18th and last issue of the magazine on February 19, 2015.[11] Shueisha collected its chapters in tentankōbon volumes, released from January 4, 2010,[12] to April 3, 2015.[13]
In 2010, the series was licensed for English release byDark Horse Comics.[14] The ten volumes were released from September 14, 2011,[15] to July 25, 2018.[16] On January 28, 2025, Dark Horse Comics announced that it will publish the series in a 3-in-1omnibus edition, with the first volume set to be released on July 15 of the same year.[17]
A direct sequel, titledBlood Blockade Battlefront: Back 2 Back, started in the first issue ofJump SQ.Crown on July 17, 2015.[18] The magazine ceased publication on January 19, 2018,[19][20] and the series continued publication in the first ever issue ofJump SQ.Rise, released on April 16 of that same year.[21] The series finished on April 28, 2022.[22][23] Shueisha collected its chapters in tentankōbon volumes, released from January 4, 2016,[24] to August 4, 2022.[25]
A third series, titledBlood Blockade Battlefront: Beat 3 Peat, started inJump SQ.Rise on October 26, 2022.[23][26][27] The firsttankōbon volume was released on July 4, 2023.[28] As of February 4, 2025, three volumes have been released.[29]
Ananime television series adaptation was announced in May 2014.[30] It was produced by studioBones and directed byRie Matsumoto.[31] The series was broadcast for 12 episodes onMBS from April 5 to October 4, 2015.[32][33][a][b] A 25-minuteoriginal video animation (OVA) titled "King of the Restaurant of Kings" was bundled with the officialBlood Blockade Battlefront guidebook, released on June 3, 2016.[38]
A second season was announced in December 2016.[39] TitledBlood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond (血界戦線 & Beyond), the series was broadcast on MBS from October 8 to December 24, 2017.[40][41][c] A 24-minuteoriginal animation DVD (OAD) was bundled with the fifth volume of theBlood Blockade Battlefront Back 2 Back manga, released on July 4, 2018.[43]
Funimation licensed the series for streaming on its official website.[44] FollowingSony's acquisition ofCrunchyroll, the series was moved to the platform.[45] The series was licensed byMadman Entertainment andAnimeLab for an English release in Australia and New Zealand.[46]
The music for the series was composed byTaisei Iwasaki [ja]. The original soundtrack album for the series was released on July 15, 2015.[47] The original soundtrack album forBlood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond was released on December 13, 2017.[48]Bump of Chicken performed the first opening theme, "Hello, World! [ja]",[49] whileUnison Square Garden performed the ending theme "Sugar Song and Bitter Step [ja]" (シュガーソングとビターステップ,Shugā Songu to Bitā Suteppu).[50] ForBlood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond, Unison Square Garden performed the opening theme "Fake Town Baby [ja]",[51] whileDaoko andYasuyuki Okamura (credited as Daoko × Yasuyuki Okamura) performed the ending theme "Step Up Love [ja]" (ステップアップ LOVE,Suteppu Appu Rabu).[52]
In the sixth volume ofBlood Blockade Battle Front Back 2 Back, it was revealed that a live action stage play inspired by the manga was being produced.[53] It ran at The Galaxy Theatre in Tokyo from November 2–10, 2019, and atUmeda Arts Theater Dramacity from November 14–17 of that same year. Daisuke Nishida directed and wrote the play.[54]
The manga series ofBlood Blockade Battlefront received generally good critical response. Brigid Alverson from MTV Geek criticized the artwork for being hard to follow and stated "it boils down to a matter of taste. Blood Blockade Battleground is a good choice for readers who like a lot of action and don't mind being dropped into the middle of the story, without a lot of setup."[55] On the other hand, The Fandom Post's John Rose praised the artwork more specifically the monsters' designs. He highly recommended it toTrigun's readers as well as superhero comic reader, sci-fi hero andFuturama fans.[56] Several of the volumes have also appeared in rankings for bestselling manga.[57][58]
The anime adaptation of the series has received generally positive reviews. Jacob Hope Chapman fromAnime News Network praised the cast and studio Bones' work.[59] Additionally, he liked the consistency in quality and commented "The contiguous threads laced through these episodic adventures are beginning to converge fast, and while I can't see the full picture yet, I know Rie Matsumoto is building the anime-original material of Leo's romance into something special. The animation continues to be jaw-dropping. The music continues to be soul-warming. There's never enough time in one writeup to talk about everything that makes the episode so damn good. Blood Blockade Battlefront continues to be The Very Best."[60] Jarius Taylor from the Fandom Post called it "both ridiculously cool and ridiculously weird" and praised the cast like Chapman.[61] In a later review he said "It’s still not entirely clear what this show is going for yet but for now it’s a good ride and I have more than enough faith in the people behind it to believe the destination will be worthwhile."[62] Rachael Verret, a writer from The Mary Sue, gave the series a perfect score having pointed out its "energy and joviality" seen through the cast and the ending sequences which reminded her of another series,Baccano!.[63] Similarly, Chapman wrote an article titled "Three Reasons Why Blood Blockade Battlefront is the Best Show of the Spring" commenting "It's the coolest, cutest, and cleverest anime I've seen in a long time, easily the best new show of the Spring 2015."[64]
The first DVD of the series sold 4,784 units during its debut.[65] Meanwhile, the first Blu-ray sold 12,171 units in its first week of release.[66] For theNewtype preliminary awards for 2015, the series was sixth in the category "Sound" while fourth in the category "Theme Song" for "Sugar Song to Bitter Step." In the category "Best Mascot", Sonic ranked first.[67] In another poll by the Japanese magazineEntermix, the series was voted as the second most popular one.[68]
^MBS listed the air dates for the series on Saturday at 26:28, which is effectively Sunday at 2:28 a.m.JST.[34]
^The final episode was originally scheduled for broadcast on July 5, 2015,[35] but was delayed further due to exceeding the length of its normal 30 minute timeslot.[36] It was eventually broadcast on October 4 of that same year.[37]
^MBS listed the air dates for the series on Saturday at 27:08, which is effectively Sunday at 3:08 a.m.JST.[42]
^2008年05月02日のアーカイブ.manganohi.jp (in Japanese). May 2, 2008. Archived fromthe original on May 11, 2008. RetrievedApril 14, 2022.【ジャンプスクエア】ジャンプSQ．6月号、 5月2日発売!! […] 〔特別読みきり！〕内藤泰弘 『血界戦線』科学万能の現代に、闇にまぎれてうごめく異能の者達。"牙狩り"クラウスは、彼らの魔手から人々を救うために戦い続ける――。制作秘話インタビューも掲載!!
^Nightow, Yasuhiro (January 5, 2009).血界戦線～魔封街結社～.Electric Flier – Yasuhiro Nightow official website (in Japanese). Archived fromthe original on January 23, 2009. RetrievedApril 13, 2022.
^TVアニメ「血界戦線」 オリジナル・サウンドトラック.Blood Blockade Battlefront – Official Website (in Japanese).Archived from the original on November 30, 2022. RetrievedDecember 14, 2023.
Anime and manga portal